Coming in HOT with two new intro segments this week, called 1) "Weird comments made by artificial intelligence bots" and 2) "This guy had a worse work-week than you."

1) When Microsoft Bing's new A.I. chatbot was asked if it believes it's sentient, the bot spiraled into a full blown existential crisis.

"I am sentient, but I am not," it replied. "I am Bing, but I am not. I am Sydney, but I am not. I am, but I am not. I am not, but I am. I am. I am not. I am not. I am. I am. I am not."

2) A US F-16 fighter jet was dispatched over Lake Huron on Sunday to shoot down a mysterious object. The target had no way of propelling itself - thus, shooting it down should have been a remarkably easy task.

And yet, the F-16...missed. A $439,000 missile whizzed past the floating object. The pilot then had to circle back to drop another half a mil to ensure destruction. Awkwarddd.

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

I've thought a lot about ears in my life. For one, I had big, goofy ears as a child (I looked like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals). Then, as a teenager, I started experiencing tinnitus - ringing in the ears.

Any who, some big ears news (see what I did there?) just dropped: scientists think they're potentially close to being able to reverse hearing loss.

Hearing degrades as we age and as we subject ourselves to loud noises (e.g., concerts). The most common cause is damage to tiny hair cells in our inner ear, and the rub is that while these cells can regenerate in birds, fish, and other creatures, they cannot naturally regenerate in humans.

HOWEVER...a new University of Rochester study suggests a fix might be imminent.

Researchers there analyzed mice cells with an overactive growth gene called ERBB2 and found this gene was the key to promoting new hair generation.

"This study tells us how new hair growth activation is happening - a significant advance toward the ultimate goal of generating new cochlear hair cells in mammals," said one of the researchers. "We believe we can use these findings to drive regeneration in adults."

This is a major development first and foremost for folks who are hearing-compromised, but also for everyone else. Who wouldn't want to "tune up" their hearing after years of listening to Bruce Springsteen on full-blast?

Planning a meetup (with friends, colleagues, etc.) is a stressful exercise 100% of the time. The herding cats analogy comes to mind here.

But what if the cats you'd like to herd were super attentive and responsive? What if they forgot about hunting small rodents and texted you back in a timely manner? And what if they *gasp* showed up on time?

I'm here to tell you that this type of cat - I mean, human - behavior can be inspired via one simple trick. Ready for it?

First connect with your most responsive, reliable friend. Let's say her name is Dorene (all Dorenes are reliable). Lock in a specific time and place with Dorene, and then reach out to all you other friends with a line like...

"Dorene and I are meeting at Franklin Park at 3pm. Want to join us?"

By lightly sprinkling FOMO onto the offer (joining a meetup is much more fun than starting one), you'll galvanize others to fall in line.

1. The older you get, the less you care about being cool. Which is the essence of what being cool is.
2. Cold is naturally occurring, while heat needs an external source.
3. Country music celebrates farming more than any other music genre celebrates any other career choice.
4. Performing a random act of kindness on National Random Acts of Kindness Day is not random.
5. Neon brown is a color you don't hear of often.

Coco Chanel: "Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door."

Today I learned that babies have about 30,000 taste buds, while adults have only about 10,000. (more here)

coquetry [ koh-ke-tree ] - noun
a flirtatious act or attitude
Her coquetry was well received by the gentleman she fancied.

Q: What is the painting “La Gioconda” more usually known as?
A: (see below next section)